Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > Ototoxicity

Definition

Ototoxicity is damage to the hearing or balance functions of the ear by drugs or chemicals.

Description

Ototoxicity is drug or chemical damage to the inner ear. This section of the ear contains both the hearing mechanism and the vestibulocochlear nerve, the nerve that sends hearing and balance information to the brain. Because of this, ototoxic drugs may cause lack of hearing, and loss of sense of balance.

The extent of ototoxicity varies with the drug, the dose, and other conditions. In some cases, there is full recovery after the drug has been discontinued. In other cases, the extent of damage is limited, and may even be too small to be noticed. This may occur in high frequency hearing loss, where the damage to the ear makes it difficult to hear high pitched musical notes, but does not affect the ability to hear the spoken...